Device for putting on a shoe cover

ABSTRACT

A device for putting on a shoe cover on a shoe, comprising a bar and an expanding holder for a shoe cover at one end of the bar, the shoe cover comprising a bag having a neck that is tightened by an elastic string, which extends around at least a part of the circumference of the bag neck. A stand having a guide, which guides the bar to a generally vertical axial motion. Biasing members are provided to bias the bar against an upper end position in which the clamping holder, that is mounted at the lower end of the bar, is lifted up from a substratum for the stand to a level that enables a user to conveniently mount the shoe cover on the holder. The bar is displaceable against the action of the biasing device to a lower state at which the holer having mounted shoe cover is situated at the floor.

The invention relates to a device for putting on a shoe cover, of the kind that is defined in the preamble of claim 1.

A device of this kind is previously known, and comprises a bar, which at one end thereof has an expanding holder for a shoe cover, the shoe cover comprising a bag having an elastically tightened bag neck, which may be widened by application on the expanding holder to enable a shoe to be introduced into the bag mounted on the holder.

A user is intended to hold on to the bar, and manipulate the same so that the holder comes in a comfortable location in relation to the hands of the user, so that the user simply can mount the shoe cover on the holder. Then the user manipulates the bar so that the holder having the shoe cover is placed at the floor, so that the foot and shoe of the user may be inserted into the bag, and pull off the bag put over the shoe from the holder.

The use of the previously known device is complicated, because the device cannot be utilized to support the user during the entire operation, as well as the device usually requiring that the device can placed at a suitable level, for instance a table for the user to be able to use both his/her hands for putting on the shoe cover on the expanding holder.

Therefore, one object of the invention is to provide a device for putting on a shoe cover, which entirely or partly obviates the above mentioned drawbacks.

The object is attained by the invention.

The invention is defined in the appended independent claim.

Embodiments of the invention are defined in the appended dependent claims.

The invention will be described in the following in the form of examples, reference being made to the appended claims.

FIG. 1 shows a view of a device according to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a section taken along line II-II in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a section taken along III-III in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic section taken along line V-V in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 shows a grip clamp that is mounted on the shoe bag holder of the device.

In FIG. 1, a stand 10 standing on a floor 1 is shown. The stand 10 comprises a bottom plate 11, an upright 12 and an arm 13 drawing from the upright 12 which in the free end thereof has a vertical guide 14 for a bar 20 which is shown to have a handle 21 at the upper end thereof. The bar 20 carries at the lower end thereof a base plate 22 which carries two holders 24 for a shoe cover.

In FIG. 1, the bar 20 is shown driven down to a lower end position in which the plate 22 rests on the stand plate 11. Biasing members are provided for lifting the bar 20 to an upper end position in which the holders 24 are on a comfortable level for the hands of a user of normal size who stands upright close by the stand 10. In FIG. 3, it is shown that the biasing member comprises a cord 30, which is connected with a radial arm 25 at the lower end of the bar 20, and extends through a guide groove in the guide 14, out through an opening of the wall of the guide 14 and extends around a pulley 32, which is rotatable around a horizontal shaft 16, which is carried by an arm 15 from the guide sleeve 14. The counterweight mass 35 weighs more than the bar 20 including the plate 22 and the holders 24.

The plate 22 is shown to carry two holders 24 arranged beside each other, which holders are shown to have a general U-shape as viewed in horizontal view, each holder being in the form of a vertical rim comprising two parallel branches 124 and a web 125 uniting the branches 124. The two holders 24 are shown placed at small mutual distance and orientated in parallel so that the open sides of the holders are facing the toes of a user who is standing in front of the device to drive down the bar 20 and/or to mount a foot cover on the respective holder 24.

As an alternative, the biasing member may comprise a spring, which acts between the stand (preferably the guide 14 thereof) and the bar 20, the spring (not shown) being arranged to bias the bar 12 against the upper end position thereof so that the spring affords the same function as the counterweight and the coupling thereof to the bar.

In an additional other embodiment, the biasing member may be entirely omitted. Instead friction members 142 could possibly be provided, which enable a displacement of the bar 20 by the guide 14, as well as, in the unloaded state of the bar 20, retain the bar and thereby the holders 24 in the set displacement position, against the action of gravity. The friction members 142 may, as is shown in FIG. 3, be established with a corresponding fit and roughness on the surface of the guide 14 facing the bar 20.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, a shoe cover bag 50 is illustrated, which usually is in the form of a bag of plastic which around the greater part of the neck thereof in the vicinity of the bag mouth has an elastic string 51, which in unloaded state ties up the bag neck. The user can put down the bottom part of the bag in the holder 24, and fold the bag neck over the upper border part of the rim so that the string 51 clamps the bag neck on the upper part of the holder. The bag 50 being mounted on the holder, has a maximum height between the bottom and the upper stripe (the string 51), which is smaller than the total vertical extension of the holder, irrespective of whether the holder downwardly is delimited by the plate 22, or not. With such an embodiment, it is guaranteed that the bag is drawn off from the holder 24 when the foot of the user is put down into the bag and is treaded down to the lower end plane for the holder. If, for instance, the bag neck is folded a distance s over the outside of the holder 24, the distance t between the bottom of the bag and the underside of the holder should be greater than s.

Of course, the device may be further developed from the illustrated example, for instance in such a way that the holders 24 are widened during the displacement from the upper state to the lower state, and conversely, in order to facilitate the mounting of the shoe cover on the respective holder in the upper end position of the holder, and to facilitate the insertion of the shoe into the bag in the lower end position of the holder 24. Such expansion and contraction members, respectively, may for instance comprise converging/diverging rails, which engage with an associated follower on the branches 124 in a holder 24.

In a modification of the device, the base plate 22 is omitted and the bar 20 and the holders 24 have a lower end position in which the substratum (i.e., the stand plate 11 or the floor 1 of the room) has the distance t to the bottom of the bag 50 so that the same bag drawing-off effect from the holders 24 is attained as in the device according to FIGS. 4, 5. In said modification, according to a further development of the invention, the holder/holders 24 may carry a downwardly open clamp 70, which accordingly can be displaced vertically by means of the bar 20 in order to seize over the upper border of a bag 50 mounted on the foot and/or shoe of the user. The user places in that connection the foot and the shoe so that the clamp 70 is brought into engagement with the border of the bag in the vicinity of the Achilles' tendon of the user. When the clamp 70 has been brought to seize the border of the bag 50, the user can lift up the foot in relation to the clamp, especially the heel part of the foot so that the shoe leaves the bag starting at the heel. The bag is clamped by the clamp and may by means of the bar be lifted up to a comfortable level where the user can pull off the bag from the clamp and transfer the bag to a storage for bags. Such as is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the clamp 70 can be carried by the bar 20 and/or the holders 24 and the clamp 70 is advantageously placed between the two holders 24 in the embodiment according to FIGS. 1, 2 in the area of the open ends of the holders. The clamp 70 may consist of two downwardly directed resilient clamping fingers which from below form an upwardly converging insertion slot into which the border of the bag 50 can be introduced. The slot transforms in that connection to a squeezing spot with which the border of the bag is engaged, and then the slot preferably is widened in the upward direction to facilitate receipt of a possibly rubber elastic in the opening edge of the bag. At least one of the clamping fingers may be elastically deflectable and biased against the other clamping finger. Alternatively, at least one of the clamping fingers may be arranged pivotably and biased against the other clamping finger.

In the embodiments shown, the guide 14 for the bar 20 is carried by a stand 10, which stands on a substratum 1 such as a floor, but evidently the guide 14 may, as an alternative, be mounted on a wall of a room by means of a suitable attachment, which places the guide 14 at a convenient distance from the wall.

Further, with reference to FIG. 6, it is evident that the holders 24 do not need to have any bottom plate 22, and neither need to reach down to the substratum 1, but may, in a lower end position, be situated at a distance above a substratum 1, the holder rim having such a height and such a distance above the substratum 1 that the drawing-off effect accounted for in connection with FIG. 5 is attained when the shoe is put down into the bag mounted on the rim of the holder. 

1. A device for putting on a shoe cover on a shoe, comprising a bar and an expanding holder for a shoe cover at one end of the bar, the shoe protection comprising a bag having a neck that is tightened by an elastic string, which extends around at least a part of the circumference of the bag neck characterized by a stand having a guide for the bar, the guide affording the bar a generally vertical axial motion in the longitudinal direction thereof, the expanding holder being mounted at the lower end of the bar.
 2. Device according to claim 1 characterized in that the holder comprises a rim in which the shoe cover is received, the bag neck part of the shoe cover being folded outward over the rim so that the elastic string is situated on the outside of the rim and retains the shoe cover on the holder.
 3. Device according to claim 2 characterized in that the border is U-shaped as viewed in horizontal view and that the opening of the rim is facing a user who is standing facing the device.
 4. Device according to claim 1 characterized in that the bar carries two holders arranged beside each other at the lower end thereof.
 5. Device according to claim 2 characterized in that the bar has a lower end position in which the upper border of the rim is situated at a height over the substratum exceeding the depth of the bag so that the circumference portion of the bag neck that contains the elastic string is pulled off from the rim, when the shoe is put down into the bag carried by the holder before the shoe reaches the substratum.
 6. Device according to claim 1 characterized in that the bar at the lower part thereof carries a clamp, which is open downward and serves to seize a border part of a bag in order to facilitate taking off the bag from a shoe. 